Ikebana
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: After the flower arranging class, one of the girls can't help but feel hurt, and let the feelings fester...


_Disclaimer – I don't own Yumeiro Patissiere. Still not that far into the anime, but this… this rather spoke to me here…_

**Ikebana**

Rei, when she heard the praise being spilled onto the new girl, the new girl who couldn't do anything right, she felt her stomach clench. Her piece of work was aesthetic, pleasing to the eye, not to mention, it followed every single rule of Ikebana. Yet there was that girl's flower cake, making a mockery of everything that she had put her time into practicing.

She and her two friends, they both felt that Hanabusa Sensei had given the praise to the wrong person. Rei found the fact that one of the adults was coddling and praising Ichigo, when she in fact didn't deserve it, to be disgusting. Not to mention, it made her heart sick. She had to go and set things straight, and thus thought about going and talking to Satsuki-san's mother about everything.

She thought to herself, everyone knows that Amano-san had no talent whatsoever to speak of. She had fouled up every, single thing she had done since she had gotten here, even making it so that the princes grades had gone down. She was, basically, what amounted to the class clown, making a mockery of everything that everyone else had worked so hard at.

Ikebana was something that she had been practicing from a young age. Her parents insisted that young women should know the art form. Ikebana was not something to be mocked, and should not be made fun of at all. It was something to be taken seriously, and praised for what it was. She had learned everything that she needed to know about it.

That was, except for the fact that she truthfully never had put her spirit into her work. None of her personality ended up showing through. She never had taken the time to stop and enjoy it. She had completely missed what the teacher had been trying to tell her earlier on, that had been discussed earlier on in the classroom.

She had done what others had accused Ichigo of doing, not listening, and her mind was now distraught about the whole matter. She had to, just had to, talk to Satsuki's mother, and try to get her to realize that praising Ichigo for things she really didn't deserve, was completely uncalled for. She had in her mind, to tell an adult what worked, and what didn't.

She stayed behind the rest of the class, and Hanabusa waited there, staying still, as was the custom for the Ikebana practitioner. Finally, she spoke up. "Rei-san… what is it that you wish to speak with me about?"

"I don't understand! I followed every single rule! I made it aesthetically pleasing to the eye," the female stated. "You said that I had skill, yet you then go and praise Amano-san for her… flower cake…"

"May I ask you a few questions," the woman stated, smiling at the girl, who put a finger to her lip.

"I guess that you can…" the girl brushed some of her short, purple hair out of her eyes.

"First off, what very important to Ikebana?"

"It is the design," the young girl stated.

"No… not just the design, but the spiritual part of it. That is why there is silence involved. One becomes one with the medium," the woman smiled again.

"But, Hanabusa Sensei… I did that, didn't I?" the girl frowned.

"How to put this… when one ends up putting all their focus into the aesthetic rules of the art, they lose sight of relaxing and enjoying themselves. Sure, the basics are fundamental to the whole matter," the woman smiled.

"But sensai…"

"Can I ask you another question Rei-san?" the green haired woman smiled again.

"Hai…" the girl sighed.

"What was it we talked about earlier…"

"Ehh…"

"That it isn't about whether things are bad or good, when one does them, but one enjoys doing them," the woman smiled.

"You won't tell…" the small girl stated, still disagreeing with the woman.

"My son… only if I have to, and at this point, I don't think I do," the woman smiled.

Rei got up, and headed to the door, feeling rather dejected, still miffed that Asano had gotten the praise that she felt that she should have gotten. It rather festered inside of her, even though she knew she should really give it all up. She headed back to the dorms, and went into her room, and her room mate watched her carefully, being careful not to bring anything up.

The next day though, when she saw Ichigo make yet another mistake, she couldn't help but join in the ridicule. She thought back to what Hanabusa Sensei had said, about it not being good or bad, but all about one enjoying oneself. "_If that is the case, why don't I make sure she doesn't enjoy it any one bit…_"


End file.
